Rating: 
Summary: Pacino chewing the scenery
Review: Colin Farrell plays a naive and somewhat falsely motivated (was my long-dead dad an agent when he disappered in Peru?) CIA recruit, led on by spymaster Al Pacino and convienently distracted by the just-too-attractive colleague in the training cohort. The mix leads to intrigue and distrust as well as a relatively transparent conclusion.While not a wholly unrealistic view of the training of an agent (or so I have been told by people who know), the 'everything is a lie' and 'nothing is as it seems' philosophy that permeates the film and provides the basis for foil and counterfoil, was more tiring than entertaining. The method used to circumvent the extensive security at Langley was evident early on, and taxed my imagination. Al Pacino, with his deep, raspy voice, his cliches ("Rule number one: Don't get caught."), and his seduction of an all-too-gullible Colin Farrell, made me think of the same snow job he did on Keanue Reeves when Pacino played the devil himself.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing is what it seems, including this movie
Review: Now we got your Al Pacino, one of the kings of acting. We got Colin Farrell, (We already know that he is a GREAT actor because his name is Colin) we got the girl (I cant think of her name) Everything required for a secret agent movie, including a twist in plot what we dont have is enough actors taking their roles seriously, or maybe it is the director he may or may not be that expierianced with his job. So why is this movie only a four and not a five, personally I think it needs more action. This movie has action but not my type of action such as roof chasing, shootout, chopper chase/ car chase/ sex action Mostly the James Bond stuff. If you dont like that stuff you may possibly like this movie. I like it with out it, but I thought that if they had more of it, it would have been better. This movie has violence, blood, language and brief sex. Nothing to fret about moms. This movie is fine for anyone 12 and over, in my oppiniuion. If I had kids that age I would let them watch it. To sum it off, This movie is not two shabby and could use a little more action but I enjoyed it and hope that you will two. -Colin Nickell
Rating:
Summary: PRETTY GOOD BUT ONE FLAW...............
Review: THIS MOVIE WAS A REAL GOOD PACINO MOVIE BUT IT HAD ONE FLAW, THEY DIDNT SHOW AL PACINO TAT MUCH IN IT AND HES THE STAR OF THE MOVIE SO THATS WHY I TOOK AWAY A STAR BUT I WOULDVE GIVEN IT 5 ONLY IF THEY SHOWED HIM ENOUGH
Rating: 
Summary: A good beginning but then it goes south with a vengeance
Review: I had high hopes for this movie. I had heard it was loosely based on the Harold Nicholson case where a veteran CIA officer who worked on "the Farm" began spying for the Russians. The first twenty minutes or so don't disappoint. The scenes where Pacino recruits Ferrell and the training at the Farm seem to be pretty realistic and well done. But after that, the movie pretty much flies off into a never-never land that I'm sure would leave veteran CIA officers laughing with derision at what passes for a story. I don't want to spoil the plot for those who must see it, but suffice to say, CIA agents are not likely to ever, ever chase each other and engage in gunfights in Washington DC. In fact, they aren't very likely to do that in foreign countries either. I think as the Russians said, "When the guns come out, intelligence ends."
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: Al Pacino was exceptional as always, but this film didn't cut it. Besides obvious exaggerations, like future desk jockeys training for James Bond-style missions, the movie reeked of Mission Impossible script photocopies. Here's the plot for both movies: You think senior spy is a good guy, but it turns out he's bad, and beyond that he manipulates junior agents to achieve his sinister objectives. Although Al Pacino's laidback role of a close-to-retirement spy is much more believable than Jon Voight's "I'm 180 years old and repelling out of helicopters onto moving trains" routine, nothing can escape the dull and unimaginative plot. Too much revolves around Farrell's personal life and the loss of his father, and at times seems to be his only driving force. And anyone who's actually fired a real handgun knows full well that you cannot shoot a perfect score on a firing range by playing Duck Hunt on your Nintendo. That part was so rediculous I had to bite down hard not to laugh. I was expecting "Spy Game 2". What I got was "Mission Impossible 3", and three times a charm this film was most definately not. Pacino scraped up what little integrity this film had to begin with, but save his noble efforts, this film would've gotten only one star out of me.
Rating:
Summary: A long trip to the beach, a short day there.
Review: "The Recruit" is a well-made-yet-obviously-cheap CIA thriller that lured moviegoers into the theater based on the casting of Al Pacino and kept them there through a fast-paced first hour. The climax is a little underwhelming, and it's rare to see a thriller actually divided into two halves, but "The Recruit" milks about as much out of this concept as it can. CIA recruiter Walter Burke (Pacino) has his eye on smart, rough MIT graduate James Clayton (Colin Farrell) who's developed a virus-like computer program and is courting offers from various firms to apparently begin cementing illegal monopolies. But James has questions about his father's mysterious death in Peru, and Walter hints at answers... James enlists in the Company, as it's called, and embarks on a tough, mind-numbing training session on The Farm, which serves as locale for the best parts of "The Recruit." It's standard you-are-there-and-ain't-it-cool stuff, but Pacino kicks it up a notch, as he usually does, intoning the grave mystery and importance of CIA --"They show you your medal. You don't even get to take it home" -- while he slyly inches closer to becoming a second father to James. Also in training is Layla (Bridget Moynahan) a bit of a plain-faced Jane whose soft eyes nevertheless look like a nice place for James to call home. A lot is made of the line "nothing is what it seems" in the movie, but we can sense the arc not long after the movie's second half begins, after James has been "thrown out" of the training program only to be told by Walter that he's been selected for an undercover mission to spy on on a mole within the training unit -- Layla. Inevitably, James will have to choose whom to believe -- the lover or the 2nd dad -- and let it be said that "The Recruit" chooses the less interesting of those two options as the villain. Director Roger Donaldson ("No Way Out," "Thirteen Days") is very good at these kind of close-quartered, low budget affairs. It's a CIA movie, but there aren't any overseas locales; indeed, the primary sets seem to be a bedroom, the inside of a car and a blank office building meant to double as the CIA. Aside the three prinicpals, the cast is a collection of nobodies The MacGuffin -- the sinister spy thing everybody's after -- is almost ludicrous, but at least the actors wind themselves up into a believable frenzy over it. Pacino's back in his "weathered, grizzled" mode from "Insomnia" and "Donnie Brasco" and yep, he's still good at it. Farrell is up to the challenge, and while Moynahan may not set the screen ablaze, she's a effectively vulnerable. "The Recruit" did decent business during its run through the theater but don't expect a sequel, despite the movie's hints at one.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible movie
Review: The recruit is a pure ego play for Pacino and Farrell. The movie itself makes no sense and isn't even interesting. Avoid this DVD at all costs!
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Story
Review: I was afraid that this was the type of movie punched out in a day based on a screenplay also punched out in a day. Well it's not Shakespeare but we do get well rounded characters and a real plot. I've never been a big fan of Roger Donaldson but the directing is good. As you can probably guess from the trailer, our hero Colin Farrel is recruited into the CIA by Al Pachino. After spy school, Farrel is given his first asignment, to spy on his fellow recruits. Who are they spying for? Who is he really spying for? Yes there really is a plot I won't give away. There was much fanfair over Farrel's preformance. I find him to be over rated. 'The Recruit' is worth seeing but not on the level of the classics like 'Day of the Jackel'.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes Things Are Exactly What They Seem
Review: There is a popular film genre that Hollywood can't seem to resist remaking at least once or twice a decade. This genre is what I call The Grizzled Veteran Teaches the Wide-Eyed Rookie. In THE RECRUIT, director Roger Donaldson tries to combine this genre with several others with only middling success. Al Pacino is the Grizzled Veteran CIA head spook Walter Burke who takes the Yale educated computer whiz James Clayton (Colin Farrel) as a CIA agent in training. The training scenes that show CIA boot camp are the film's most interesting even if the training itself is most unbelievable. If the CIA really teaches its rookie agents how to be neophyte James Bonds, then it is no surprise that the real life CIA is as inept as it is. For another film with a similar theme try 13 RUE MADELINE in which James Cagney puts his rookie agents through a training regimine that smacks of real-life use. Director Donaldson seemed fascinated with the turncoat agent played by Richard Conte and reprised his role as sexy Farsi-speaking female agent Layla (Bridget Moynahan), who predictably has a steamy love affair with Colin Farrel. It is when THE RECRUIT leaves the pseudo-world of CIA training for the pseudo-world of CIA love affairs that this film goes seriously astray. The manipulating that Pacino pulls on both Moynahan and Farrel is so obvious that he might just as well have attached puppet strings to their limbs. Without giving away what is supposed to be a surprise ending, I began to suspect that truly sometimes things are exactly what they seem. Director Donaldson does not make things easy for the audience by linking plot events in such a way that the links connect nowhere. It is one thing for a director to mislead the audience in a witty way. It is quite another when that director has so little respect for the audience that he does not even pretend to tie up loose ends that cry out for tying. It is not Pacino's fault that THE RECRUIT is a glossy superficial film that on one level is a recruiting film much like TOP GUN was fifteen years ealier. Pacino plays his war-weary character with just the right note. At times his exhortations to his charges have the ring of Master Po to Grasshopper from KUNG FU. Still, you would think that a master spook like his Burke character would have been smart enough to take his own good advice. Colin Farrel is unconvincing as an inchoate piece of play dough waiting to be molded. The ending is a contrived piece of cinematic fluff that was inserted only because THE RECRUIT was touted as a thriller. Since this film was not a true thriller, I suggest that for future thrillers, Director Donaldson rent 13 RUE MADELINE to see how legitimate spine-tingling suspense can be generated when a director has respect for his audience.
Rating:
Summary: Standard issue.
Review: Maybe my sister-in-law is right and I'm too critical of movies, however, I didn't dislike THE RECRUIT because I don't think COLIN FERRELL is hot, I disliked it because it was so run of the mill. Although well lensed by capable director DONALDSON, the twists and turns the film takes are nothing short of uneventful. Both leads do a fine job with their characters but because the script is so hollywood cookie-cutter (as sooo many are these days), they, like the film, don't shine that brightly. Good thrillers are hard to come by because of films like this that lack the ingenuity to challange the viewer both emotionally and mentally the way few truly thrilling movies do.
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